Felt With the Heart
by TanteKJ
Summary: Gretl remembers her Mother


Disclaimer: I own not the Sound of Music nor any of its characters

Warm laughter bounced down the hallway that lead to the Master bedroom.  
Curious, Maria followed the sounds, her heart in her eyes as she saw what was causing so much joy.  
Georg and Gretl were on the large bed, his hair slightly mussed and face a little red, as his youngest daughter mercilessly tickled his sides.  
The smile on Maria's face grew right along with Gretl's as Georg finally wrapped warm hands around his daughter's small body and lifted her in the air, much to her pure delight.  
"Father!" She squealed, "Put me down!"  
Georg simply laughed and held Gretl even higher in the air.  
"And admit defeat and surrender? I think not!"  
Gretl giggled again as she looked down at her father's face.  
"I won't tickle you anymore." She said.  
"Really?" He asked playfully.  
Gretl nodded seriously at her father who slowly began to lower her down to sit next to him on the mattress.  
True to her word, Gretl simply folded her hands in her lap and tried to catch her breath. Georg sat beside her doing the same.  
"See, Father?" She said. "I'm not tickling you."  
"You are not." He replied.  
"I said I wouldn't tickle you anymore."  
"Yes, you did, but..."  
Gretl watched her Father with large eyes, waiting for him to continue, "I never said I was finished tickling you!"  
Gretl's squeal filled the room as Georg grabbed her sides. Gretl fell back onto the soft mattress as laughter bubbled from her throat.  
Georg tickled her for only a few seconds, Gretl sitting up and flinging herself against him as soon as he released her.  
"I love you, Father!"  
Georg swallowed hard as he wrapped his arms around his daughter.  
"I love you, too, Gretl."  
Maria watched silently from the doorway, swallowing her emotions down, and entered the room only after Father and daughter separated.  
"Mother!" Gretl exclaimed.  
"Hello." Maria greeted warmly. "It seems you two are having fun."  
Gretl nodded.  
"Do you want to join us?" She asked.  
"I'd love to...next time."  
Gretl's shoulders fell as she noticed the look on Maria's face.  
"It's bath time." She grumbled.  
"Yes, it is." Maria confirmed, still smiling.  
"Why do I always have to go first?"  
"Because you are the most important."  
Gretl smiled at her mother through lowered lashes.  
"And, I think tonight, you should take your bath in our bathtub."  
"Really?! I don't have to go back to the nursery?!"  
"Not yet." Maria said, shaking her head.  
"Oh, boy!"  
Gretl bounded off the bed and raced into the adjoining bathroom.  
Maria looked to her husband and winked at him, Georg blowing her a kiss in return.  
"I'll go get a book and her nightgown." He said. "Let's keep her with us until bedtime."  
Maria nodded in agreement, her words falling on her lips as she heard the taps turn on.  
"Gretl, wait for me!" She called and disappeared into the bathroom.

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Georg stopped as he stepped into the nursery. He drew a deep breath in through his nose as his eyes drank in the room. He felt his heart fill as he scanned the shelf for a book and chose a nightgown for his youngest. His home and his heart were alive again. Warmth and laughter filled these halls, along with music in all its forms.

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"Look at you!" Georg exclaimed as Maria and Gretl emerged from the bathroom. "You are as clean and bright as edelweiss." Georg said as Gretl climbed onto the bed and scooted to his side.  
Maria smiled at the sight before her, watching as Gretl looked up at her Father and asked, "Father? Who taught you that song?"

"About the edelweiss?" Georg asked.

"Mm-hmm." Gretl answered, nodding her head.

"Your Mother did." Georg replied softly.

"But Mother said she didn't know the song when you sang it when Uncle Max and the Baroness were here." Gretl said, looking over to Maria.

Georg froze as Gretl's words washed over him, making him realize exactly what he had said.  
He hadn't meant Maria...he had meant Agathe.

"Oh..." Georg began, his eyes finding Maria's.

"Yes." Maria jumped in. "I did tell you that. Your Father wasn't talking about me. He was talking about..."

"Our Mother who is in Heaven?" Gretl asked innocently.

"Yes." Both adults answered in unison.

"I don't remember her."

Maria sat down heavily on the edge of the bed at that and did her best to keep calm.  
"Yes." Georg began softly. "Well.."

"Why can't I remember her, Father?" Gretl continued, her young age not allowing her to pick up on the affect her words were having on the two adults who flanked her.  
"You have told us how important she was to our family and Frau Schmidt always tell us that 'we must keep the important things in our heads'."

"Yes, that's true." Maria confirmed, somehow finding her voice. "But Frau Schmidt is referring to where your schoolwork is and your shoes and your teddy bears. Those *are* important to keep in your mind, but sometimes, when it comes to the people we love and who love us, those are *so* important that they cannot be kept in our minds but rather must be felt with our hearts. Our hearts have an endless capacity for love and that love wraps us up in a warm, fuzzy feeling - like a big, fluffy blanket - and does so so naturally that we don't have to think about it. We simply feel it."  
"So, Mother is in my heart?"  
"Yes."  
"And she's an angel?"  
"Yes."

"So, she's my heart angel?"

"Yes, my darling, she is."

"I still want to see her."  
"I can help with that." Georg said suddenly. Rising from the bed, he walked over to a large chest of drawers and pulled on the top drawer. His fingers wrapped around a black velvet box, which he handed to his daughter once he had returned to the bed.

Gretl's small fingers slowly lifted the lid of the box to reveal a silver locket. Georg helped her open the locket and reverently explained the picture inside to her.

"That's you." Georg said, referring to the days old baby in the picture. "And, she", he continued, referring to the woman who held Gretl, "is your Heart Angel."

His breath caught in his throat as he spoke the last words but he kept his emotions at bay.  
"There she is." Gretl smiled. "I know this picture." She said. "You have a big one in a frame."

"Yes, I do." Georg replied, an unexpected spark of lightness in his chest as he realized that even his youngest had been in his study without his knowledge or permission.

"What is this space for?" Gretl asked, pointing to the blank space on the inside of her locket.

"You can put another picture there." Georg told her.

"Then we have to." Gretl told him in all her five-year-old seriousness. "And I know what it should be."

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Within a few days, Georg, Maria, and Gretl were back in the Master bedroom and the girls watched as Georg carefully slid the small photograph of the three of them into the open space on the locket opposite the picture of Gretl and Agathe before gently closing the clasp and slipping it over Gretl's head.


End file.
